Shola is as good as Tevez, says Pardew.

Shola Amoebi had one of his good days at the weekend as he scored one goal, assisted another, and generally made himself a nuisance to the Wolves defence all afternoon.

The Fenham Eusebio has his critics, quite rightly at times, but there are also times where he can be unplayable. Saturday was almost one of those days and I, quite happily, will eat humble pie and give the lad the slice of credit that he deserves.

He is not prolific, far from it in fact, but he has spent a lot of time on the treatment table in the past and has spent his fair share of time stuck behind strikers such as Alan Shearer, Craig Bellamy, Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen. Granted the last two never really worked out, but it still limited Shola's appearances to mainly minutes from the bench.

What we saw on Saturday was the best of Shola Ameobi, but the problem is that we don't see the best of Shola Ameobi often enough. He can be the most frustrating player at times, but then he'll pop up with a crucial goal or do something that will make you think 'hang on, why can't he do that more often'. Part of the enigma of Ameobi I guess.

Getting back to his role in the 4-1 win over Wolves on Saturday, Shola certainly played with fire in his belly, and Alan Pardew has paid tribute to that today. Speaking tp the Daily Mail, Pardew had this to say about Ameobi:

"He's as good a striker as I've ever worked with. And I've worked with a few - Zamora, Tevez, Harewood, Sheringham."

"A bit of me wanted the fans to show their appreciation. He's had a career that's been difficult - sometimes he's made it difficult for himself - but he's been outstanding."

Now I may have just been praising Shola, but to put him in the same bracket as players like Tevez and Sheringham is a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

Shola is both good and bad in equal measure, and it looks as though he will be an important player for us until the end if the season. He's playing through the inconvenience of having to wear a protective mask at the moment, which is far from ideal according to the player himself:

"Every time I head the ball it is (the mask) hard plastic so it smashes against your face," said Shola. "When I catch the ball right on the forehead it's fine. It really hurts when you don't. But the mask has given me a chance to play and I scored a header, so it's working. The surgeon wants me to wear it until the end of the season, but I can't wait to ditch it."

Hopefully he can continue playing like he did on Saturday from now until the end of the season, but then we've said that before how many times? Personally, Shola will always have a place in my heart for his exploits against the Mackems. They fear him, and I like that!

This video just about sums up the good an bad of Shola Ameobi.



So is he as good as the likes of Tevez, Sheringham, even Zamora? Probably not, but in brief moments he can be, and it's those brief moments that we should all hope that we see more of from now until the end of the season.

All together now.......

You put your left leg in, your left leg out. In out, in out.......